Grande Utopia EM Evo

By developing and manufacturing its own membranes, Focal pushes the limits of innovation in acoustics. The sandwich "W" membrane of the loudspeakers plays an essential role in sound reproduction. It consists of two sheets of glass placed on either side of a central foam body; a sandwich construction that enables us to master the three key parameters of a good loudspeaker: lightness, rigidity and damping. This flagship membrane of Focal know-how perfectly optimizes the frequency response curve, providing low distortion and total listening transparency. Sound is the ultimate in precision.

While our engineers are experts in the development of exclusive diaphragms, they also innovate in all the components that make up the loudspeakers, such as the surround that connects the diaphragm to the frame, the performance of which must be mastered. Introduced in 2015, Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) technology with harmonic damping consists of the addition of finely positioned toroidal weights to stabilize the surround for even greater sonic neutrality. This technology enhances the midrange and the erratic behavior of the surround between 1 kHz and 2 kHz.

Membrane shape and materials are essential for high-fidelity reproduction. For exceptional treble, our engineers have developed the Béryllium inverted dome tweeter in pure Beryllium. Thanks to its unrivalled rigidity, Beryllium is the material of choice for high-frequency loudspeakers. Developed and patented by Focal, the pure Beryllium inverted dome is capable of covering more than five octaves (1,000 - 40,000 Hz) for perfect perception of micro-details.

With Utopia, Focal introduced the EM woofer with electromagnetic motor. A breakthrough so significant that it has been given its full name: Utopia EM. The woofer with electromagnetic motor achieves this technological leap forward in bass. The principle: the permanent magnet is replaced by an electromagnet. As a result, the motor's power can be inexhaustible or modulated. One figure: the BL (force factor) of the woofer in the previous Grande Utopia was a respectable 18.5 T.m, now it's 34 T.m, an increase of 83%. We have used a technology capable of achieving extreme performance: the electromagnet. Its power supply is external and features a signal recognition system. The supply voltage can be adjusted in 6 steps (for a power output of 9 W to 90 W). This gives you a choice of a whole range of bass sounds, from deep and round to taut and live, and 4 intermediate levels to program a bass sound à la carte. These settings ensure unprecedented bass control, while keeping control of the loudspeaker/room coupling.

The notion of fine-tuning the sound, without altering the integrity of the signal, was integrated right from the start of the development of the Utopia EM range. Grande Utopia offers a huge variety of settings in the bass, midrange and treble registers, for a total of 1,458 possible combinations. The OPC+ is part of this approach. It offers the ability to adapt the loudspeaker's response curve to the room's acoustics, to customize the tonal balance according to the reverberation time linked to the size of the room, and to adjust the frequency response of the loudspeaker.room size, the nature of light or matt surfaces, furnishings, or simply individual sound preferences. Extremely sophisticated (4-way configuration, doubled by multiple settings) and distributed over 3 levels in the loudspeaker, this crossover requires 16 hours of assembly, using only quality components determined through comparative listening.

The performance of a loudspeaker is directly related to the magnetic energy transmitted by the magnet. To develop high-performance woofers, our engineers created the multi-ferrite magnet, or Power Flower™ technology, which brings together several stacked ferrite rings distributed around the central core. This technology combines very high magnetic energy transmission, for tenfold power handling, with optimal cooling of the loudspeaker: the spacing between the blocks allows free circulation of hot air, ensuring unrivalled ventilation of the coil. As it heats up less, it no longer represents a limitation on power, even after prolonged listening at high sound levels. Another advantage is that the coil is decompressed because it is totally open-back to the outside: distortion, linked to mechanical compression phenomena, is considerably reduced. This technology has been an exclusive Focal signature for many years.

As the surface area of a loudspeaker cabinet is greater than that of the loudspeaker diaphragms, it can radiate sounds that are distorted by the resonances of the cabinet structure. This alters reproduction and blurs the sound image. To prevent such "interference", it is essential that the cabinet is as inert as possible, that it is not emissive. At Focal, we use MDF (Medium Density Fiber) to achieve this inertia. This stable, heavy structure is anti-vibration. It has been optimized by vibratory mapping of the loudspeaker walls to reinforce or modify the structure wherever a weak point appeared.

For very high-definition sound, control of the magnetic flux circulating in the loudspeaker is essential. Our acousticians have created a magnetic circuit of incredible stability, guaranteeing perfectly controlled sound: Neutral Inductance Circuit (NIC) technology. This patented technology resides in a Faraday ring whose dimensions, material and positioning are optimized to make the magnetic flux stable and the sound highly precise.